Winnipeg Approves Plan for Dedicated Mental Health Emergency Service

Winnipeg is set to develop a new emergency response service aimed at addressing mental health crises. The city’s executive policy committee approved a proposal on Tuesday, initiated by Mayor Scott Gillingham, to collaborate with a consulting firm. This initiative will outline the framework for a proposed Winnipeg Community Response Service that integrates community partners, health system supports, and the city’s 911 operations.

The mayor announced that $228,000 will be allocated from his office to fund the initiative. The goal is to establish a specialized service that can respond to mental health calls, dispatching trained, trauma-informed responders. This would allow police to concentrate on violent and property crimes. “If someone calls 911 because there’s a mental health crisis, they don’t need a badge-and-gun response,” Gillingham stated. “What they need is a mental health worker who understands their need.”

Addressing Growing Concerns

Statistics from the Winnipeg Police Service indicate that wellness checks have been the top reason for police calls for five consecutive years. In 2022, dispatchers managed over 21,000 calls related to mental health concerns. Currently, the city has various mental health services, including a mobile crisis unit and a partnership that allows police and mental health clinicians to address low-risk situations.

During the committee meeting, support worker Kaitlin Holokrys highlighted the urgency for change. She recounted her experience of having to call 911 for a client facing severe mental health issues. Holokrys was informed that a police officer needed to be present due to the potential danger her client posed. Tragically, later that year, her client died by suicide during another mental health crisis, prompting Holokrys to emphasize the need for community-led wellness services. “When police are the default for crisis response, it often leads to negative outcomes for people in crisis,” she said.

Calls for Immediate Action

The committee also reviewed cases where wellness checks resulted in fatalities. In 2019, police fatally shot Machuar Madut, a 43-year-old man who had struggled with mental health issues. More recently, in 2023, Afolabi Stephen Opaso, a 19-year-old, was shot by police during a wellness check. Advocates like Kate Kehler, executive director of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, are urging for the swift implementation of the new service. “There is no reason to expect that we will not lose someone else in the interim in what should have been a preventable death,” Kehler stated.

Despite the support for a dedicated mental health service, the proposal has met with opposition. The United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg expressed concerns about introducing a fourth emergency service, citing that existing services are already overwhelmed. Union president Nick Kasper argued for prioritizing the stabilization of current emergency services instead of expanding them. “To put more members… into the same system without changing the system is only going to produce more of the same high call volumes,” he noted.

Other Canadian cities, such as Toronto, have taken steps to implement services that dispatch mental health workers and paramedics to non-violent calls. As Winnipeg moves forward with this initiative, the city aims to enhance its response to mental health crises, ultimately striving for better outcomes for its residents.